Tuesday, September 02, 2014
The Dump
Waco has a dump-- a big hole on the outskirts of town where you can back up your car and toss stuff in. You paid by the pound; they weighed your car on the way in and the way out.
The dump fascinated me, and I loved going there. There was something very honest about it, in the way that there is an honesty to meat-eaters who occasionally kill the animals that they eat. When you go to the dump, you find out exactly where it is that your trash goes. For some people (including me), it pulls in favor of recycling when you can, but also towards the realization that there are worse things than tossing out a plastic wrapper-- it is going to a great big hole, and there is still some room for it.
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Interesting... Perhaps the Gaines' trash pick at the Waco dump for some of the things they use in their home remakes.
Here in N. Durham we can contract for trash and recycling pick up or haul our trash to the dump. This has made us very good recyclers. We don't get to toss our trash into a big, seemingly, bottomless hole. We toss it into trash haulers (lots of sorting and rules) and go on our merry way. Although the one for regular trash looks like a black hole in many regards there is no trash picking allowed.
Here in N. Durham we can contract for trash and recycling pick up or haul our trash to the dump. This has made us very good recyclers. We don't get to toss our trash into a big, seemingly, bottomless hole. We toss it into trash haulers (lots of sorting and rules) and go on our merry way. Although the one for regular trash looks like a black hole in many regards there is no trash picking allowed.
It's a great little exercise for folks to know where their trash goes. Ours is incinerated, which made me feel a little less bad about tossing prescription meds. By the way, you should be washing out and reusing those plastic bags, Dr. Osler: http://www.greenmomster.org/2012/06/greening-those-plastic-baggies.html
Loved trips to the dump when I lived in Del Rio. Perfect excuse for owning a pickup.
There was a recycling component. As in, the guy in the weigh-in hut would occasionally look in the bed to see if there was anything he wanted. Also usually one or two guys at the dump site (in the vans I assume they lived in) who would pick over the offerings. The "No Scavenging" signs stood in mute protest.
There was also a shed with huge tanks for used motor oil and filters. Cost a few bucks to dispose of an old tire, which probably got reused instead of recycled.
Popular with the local mountain biking set.
There was a recycling component. As in, the guy in the weigh-in hut would occasionally look in the bed to see if there was anything he wanted. Also usually one or two guys at the dump site (in the vans I assume they lived in) who would pick over the offerings. The "No Scavenging" signs stood in mute protest.
There was also a shed with huge tanks for used motor oil and filters. Cost a few bucks to dispose of an old tire, which probably got reused instead of recycled.
Popular with the local mountain biking set.
# posted by 
: 4:47 PM
: 4:47 PM
Baggie drying rack!?! validation for what I thought was both crazy and cheap, thank you Desiree! ...even though I wash plastic bags and dry them on chop sticks spread inside a coffee mug.
There is a certain smell that is peculiar to dumps. I remember going with my father to the dump to "get rid of stuff" and I remember that smell. Recently, I was at a dump, and there was the smell as well--a kind of burned, smoldering, decay smell that one might liken to garbage cooking at very low heat. The smell evokes very strong memories. Always does.
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